Look in the Bible for evidence of Church gatherings that include any of the following. Let me know what you find (include Scripture reference).
1. Weekly Sunday morning gatherings.
2. Weekly offerings @ said gatherings.
3. Voting.
4. Congregational Singing.
5. Exegetical preaching to a gathering of believers with spiritual transformation in mind.
6. Committees.
7. Youth Ministry.
8. Choirs.
9. Deacon Boards.
10. Buildings owned by the church body and dedicated to church usage.
Rudd contends we would find:
- Prayer
- People Reporting About Ministry
- Group Discussions
- Prayer
- Discipline
- Reading Letters From Other Believers
- Did I Mention Prayer?
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5 comments:
We also find collecting money for poor churches in other areas.
ah yes but mr. rudd was clever, he wrote "@ said gathers" so if you cannot find #1, then you cannot find anything "@ said gatherings".
It's pretty interesting, b/c it is hip right now to bring this kind of stuff up.
1) The early Christians maintained temple/synagogue life didn't they? (Acts 2 - meeting in the temple courts) The apostles often went to the local synagogue first. So there might be some evidence that they continued to gather on a regular basis. The Jerusalem church definitely did - see James. Was it Sunday morning, probably not, probably more like daily? In Ephesus, Paul and his crew rented a town lecture hall (sounds familiar) and met there daily? (Acts 19) Where Paul most likely preached. Anyone want to sign up for that?
2) Did they take offerings? Of course they did. Acts 4 is an offering, isn't it? Giving alms to the needy was a regular practice, which is why Jesus talks about it so frequently. That and not storing up treasures on earth was a key passage in the Sermon on the mount. Paul is often traipsing around the middle east and eastern Europe collecting money.
3)Voting, no probably worse, they cast lots! But, yes they did gather and seek God's for direction concerning decisions (Acts 13). It probably looked a lot like a vote.
4)Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16 - and Phil. 2:6-11 is probably one of those songs.
5) Absolutely, see Paul in Ephesus, above, and James references to church meetings, the rich getting front row seats. Paul preached so long one time, a guy fell out the window!
6)7)8)9) Probably not, but I'm sure elders and deacons (biblical ideas) got together to make decisions, and I'm sure people practiced singing together, and Youth Ministry is a timeless idea. Rabbinical training was youth ministry.
10) Peter's home was probably a church and it was owned by the church, considering Acts 4.
I just thought I would point out some of the places in scripture I do see evidence of modern church practices.
Jason ... Good job providing Scriptural evidence. I agree with some of your points. On the others, while I won't go as far as saying you are wrong, they felt a bit "stretchy" to me ...
i took the challenge i guess - even if it was a stretch!
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